Srinivasan Sampath Kumar

Kumar's bio

Personal Life

Kumar is married to Radha with two children - Vinita and Arvind.

Kumar had his schooling in the National High School, Kolkata and obtained his graduation in Commerce and Law from Calcutta University. He obtained a diploma in Textile Technology. He served a brief stint in the Supreme Court of India and took over his family business.

Trade bodies

He has been intensely associated with industrial activities and represented several trade bodies, including as the National Chairman of the Council for Leather Exports.
Kumar played a pivotal role in the relocation of the Kolkata tanneries from Kolkata city to the modern Kolkata Leather Complex outside the city limits. He was the Co-Chairman of the FICCI Leather Panel (ER) and a member of the High-Powered Committee on Calcutta Leather Complex, set up by the Government.
He has also been a member of the task force for monitoring the implementation of Corporate Responsibility in Environmental Protection, set up by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India. He is an executive committee member of the Bharat Chamber of Commerce and its Chairman of the Standing Committee.

Noteworthy contributions to industry

Kumar coordinated the visits of various industry delegations to several capitals in the world, noteworthy amongst them being with the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Initiated by Kumar, the MOU signed during the visit of the then Italian Prime Minister, Mr. Romano Prodi to Kolkata saw the birth of the Tanning Training & Service Center, set up with the assistance of the Italian Government in Kolkata. In his tenure as the Chairman, CLE, the Wal-Mart was invited to India, and the Indian footwear exports to the global retailer commenced. Kumar has addressed many fora around the world, including World Export Development Forum organised by the ITC, Geneva, a joint agency of World Trade Organisation and the United Nations Conference on Trade Development.

Academics

Kumar is closely connected with the administration of academic institutions. He has been the president of the National High Schools, Kolkata for 12 years and the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Government College of Engineering & Leather Technology, GoWB for 13 years. He has also been the Vice President of AHEAD, a school of national excellence, dedicated to specially empowered children.

Social work

Kumar is a keen social worker and has been associated with several social projects. He is also a keen sportsman and member of the Indian Life Saving Society and the Lake Club. He was the Assistant Governor of Rotary Districts in Bengal.

Hobbies

He is a naturalist and a keen photographer, a member of the Royal Photographic Society, England and has published several books on photography. He is a blogger and his other hobbies are writing poetry, painting, reading and travelling, particularly to wildlife parks. He has written an English novel, Frozen Waves, which has also been translated in Bengali and Italian. He is an author of two books on poems, one each in English and Tamil.

Knighthood

The Italian Government honoured him with the second highest civilian award, Knighthood of the order of the Star of Italian Solidarity in 2006.